I'm asking this primarily to those who have done it, but anyone is welcome to comment on their opinions. How do you go about studying and recording a multiple-part piece for piano (4 hands, 6 hands, etc.) by yourself? Do you study one of the parts all the way through first? The prima, the seconda? Do you practice segments of them in parallel? What works best?

I've screwed around a little with this kind of thing but have not yet made a 'real' recording. Still waiting on a Granados duet book I ordered weeks ago. It must have circled the globe several times by now and I do wish it would hurry up and get to me!

(sorry - a little rant there.)

Marcelo, I do think that you just need to be able to have both parts down solid. Then just start doing some trial run-throughs. The hand that plays first should be the hand to record first. And when you have a good clean version, listen to it in earphones while you record the other part on top of it.

_________________"Simplicity is the highest goal, achievable when you have overcome all difficulties." ~ Frederic Chopin

I would not make that a rule. In some cases the secondo part simply stamps out the rhythm (like in the Petersburger Schlittenfahrt I recorded with myself) and then I think that's best recorded first. Although I could not say why exactly - it just worked for me.

And when you have a good clean version, listen to it in earphones while you record the other part on top of it.

Recording each part separately works well, especially when you're listening to one part while recording the other. Otherwise there may be a tendency for the two parts to separate little by little (actually that can happen even if you have somebody playing the other part )

_________________"His name ought not to be Bach (brook), but Ocean, because of his infinite and inexhaustible wealth of tonal combinations and harmonies."
- Beethoven

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